The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution (52 page)

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

153	a total of $622,000 in income : Bruce Crawford, Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology Finance Committee Report, October, 16, 1953, Worcester Foundation Papers, UM.
153	“to do the jobs on hand” : Ibid.
154	pledging fifty thousand dollars : Ibid.
154	“young, lusty and full of promise” : Gregory Pincus to Frank Fremont-Smith, September 25, 1953, LOC.
155	metabolism of steroids : “Synopsis of Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology Research Projects,” 1953–54, Worcester Foundation Papers, UM.
155	“new studies in reproduction control” : “Minutes of the Tenth Annual Trustees Meeting of the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology,” June 12, 1954, Worcester Foundation Papers, UM.
155	in a letter to McCormick : Margaret Sanger to Katharine Dexter McCormick, February 13, 1954, Margaret Sanger Papers, SSC.
155	“merely said he hoped I was still interested” : Katharine Dexter McCormick to Margaret Sanger, February 17, 1954, Armond Fields Collection, USC.
155	“As I became somewhat impatient” : Ibid.
156	“I was mistaken” : Ibid.
156	first human trials : Katharine Dexter McCormick to Margaret Sanger, November 13, 1953, Armond Fields Collection, USC.
157	“forget to take the medicine sometimes” : Ibid.
158	“would be very difficult in this country” : Gregory Pincus to Katharine Dexter McCormick, March 5, 1954, Gregory Pincus Papers, LOC.
158	“somewhat elevated” : Gregory Pincus to Al Raymond, January 26, 1954, Gregory Pincus Papers, LOC.
158	desperate for better birth control : Annette B. Ramirez de Arellano, Colonialism, Catholicism, and Contraception (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983), p. 108.
159	“ovulating intelligent” women : Katharine Dexter McCormick to Margaret Sanger, October 21, 1954, Margaret Sanger Papers, SSC.
160	average mother . . . had borne 6.8 children : Reuben Hill, J. Mayone Stycos, and Kurt W. Black, The Family and Population Control (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1959), p. 13.
161	“determined not to have more children” : Transcript of Edris Rice-Wray interview conducted by Ellen Chesler, undated, SSC.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

162	ten times as many children : David M. Oshinsky, Polio: An American Story (Oxford, UK, and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 5.
163	six hundred thousand children : Ibid., p. 199.
163	“The earth’s population will double” : “There Won’t be Room to Breathe in 2023 If Birth-Death Rate Continues,” Panama City News-Herald , April 6, 1953.
164	one of the most densely populated countries : “Population Control in Puerto Rico: The Formal and Informal Framework,” Law and Contemporary Problems 25, no. 3 (1960), pp. 558–76.
164	more densely packed than the United States : Ibid.
164	one in every ten residents : “Flow of Puerto Ricans Here Fills Jobs, Poses Problems,” New York Times , February 23, 1953.
164	one hundred miles long : “Puerto Rico Faces Two Big Problems,” New York Times , June 27, 1954.
165	only heightening the sense of crowding : Ibid.
165	less than four : P. K. Hatt, Backgrounds of Human Fertility in Puerto Rico (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1952), p. 53, Table 37.
165	“So, two is enough” : J. Mayone Stycos, Family and Fertility in Puerto Rico (New York: Columbia University Press, 1955), p. 160.
165	underway in Puerto Rico : Ibid., p. 159.
166	“How could I enjoy it . . . ?” : Ibid., pp. 163–64.
166	women . . . intentionally married men : Ibid., p. 164.
167	birth control at some point : Ibid., p. 217.
167	a return flight home on Monday : Annette B. Ramirez de Arellano, Colonialism, Catholicism, and Contraception (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983), p. 146.
167	would cost about six hundred dollars : Ibid.
168	“imperils the whole society” : Stycos, Family and Fertility in Puerto Rico , p. 255.
168	“ ‘but you won’t do both’ ” : Transcript of Edris Rice-Wray interview conducted by Ellen Chesler, undated, Margaret Sanger Papers, SSC.
169	They recommended a diaphragm : Transcript of Edris Rice-Wray oral history by James Reed, March 1987, Margaret Sanger Papers, SSC.
169	came as a revelation : Transcript of Edris Rice-Wray interview conducted by Ellen Chesler, undated, Margaret Sanger Papers, SSC.
169	“it wasn’t enough for me” : Ibid.
169	to help the other women : Ibid.
169	she moved with her children to San Juan : Ibid.
170	“they are doing nothing about it” : Edris Rice-Wray to William Vogt, December 10, 1953, Gregory Pincus Papers, LOC.
170	“We have 160 clinics” : Ibid.
171	“looking for anybody” : Transcript of Edris Rice-Wray interview conducted by Ellen Chesler, undated, Margaret Sanger Papers, SSC.
171	“Our great opportunity” : Edris Rice-Wray to Gregory Pincus, March 6, 1954, Gregory Pincus Papers, LOC.
172	Only five reported no side effects : Memo titled “Pseudopregnancy Data,” June 15, 1954, Gregory Pincus Papers, LOC.
172	“assemble a group of 50 women” : Gregory Pincus to Dr. Manuel Fernández Fuster, October 19, 1954, LOC.
172	“at worst inconvenient” : Gregory Pincus memo, November 1, 1954, John Rock Papers, CLM.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

175	Mercier said : Tina Mercier, telephone interview conducted by the author, April 2013.
176	behind his back : Dr. Enoch Callaway, telephone interview conducted by the author, March 2013.
177	one inmate beheaded another : “12-State Alarm for Worcester Mental Patient Who Axed Inmate,” Lowell Sun , July 22, 1943.
177	“patients who have defeated our best efforts” : Enoch Callaway, Asylum: A Mid-Century Madhouse and Its Lessons about Our Mentally Ill Today (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2007), p. 6.
178	“defecating and urinating” : Ibid., p. 9.
178	pulling hair in frustration : Ibid., p. 8.
178	“I could not help imagining” : Ibid., p. 9.
178	“would never think of doing these days” : Dr. Enoch Callaway, telephone interview conducted by the author, March 2013.
179	“[W]e wish to inform the directors” : Oscar Resnick to Gregory Pincus, undated, Gregory Pincus Papers, LOC.
180	to cure men of homosexuality : Andrea Tone, ed., Controlling Reproduction (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2001), p. 220.
180	“were just as psychotic” : “Field Study with Enovid as a Contraceptive Agent,” ERW, Proceedings of a Symposium on 19-Nor Progestational Steroids , 118, Searle Research Laboratories, January 23, 1957.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

181	it made him uncomfortable : Rachel Achenbach, interview conducted by the author, October 2011.
181	hormone for prolonged stretches : Loretta McLaughlin, The Pill, John Rock, and The Church: The Biography of a Revolution (Boston: Little, Brown, 1982), p. 111.
182	“very realistic about medical work” : Katharine Dexter McCormick to Margaret Sanger, July 19, 1954, Margaret Sanger Papers, SSC.
182	Pincus and Rock refused : Margaret Marsh and Wanda Ronner, The Fertility Doctor: John Rock and the Reproductive Revolution (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), p. 158.
182	“an abstract research thing” : Ibid., p. 159.
182	“What has happened to you . . . ?” : Margaret Sanger to Abraham Stone, March 2, 1954, Margaret Sanger Papers, SSC.
184	“ pitifully little that was of practical value” : Ibid., p. 169.
184	keynote speaker was Catholic? : Winfield Best to John Rock, March 9, 1954, John Rock Papers, CLM.
184	“importance of the world population increase” : John Rock to Winfield Best, March 11, 1954, John Rock Papers, CLM.
186	“Two big steps that women must take” : David Halberstam, The Fifties (New York: Villard Books, 1993), p. 591.
186	wash the dishes and emerge “utterly desirable” : Marlene Dietrich, “How to Be Loved,” Ladies’ Home Journal , January 1954.
186	“learn to live and work together” : “Listen, Marlene!” Ladies’ Home Journal , April 1954.
187	behind the scenes on political campaigns : Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945–1960 (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1994), p. 250.
187	“end of the old controversy” : James R. Petersen, The Century of Sex: Playboy’s History of the Sexual Revolution, 1900–1999 (New York: Grove Press, 1999), p. 233.
188	“Sex is something I really don’t understand” : J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (Boston: Little, Brown, 1951), pp. 63–64.
188	“wearing out britches from the inside” : Ibid., p. 240.
188	having an affair with a nurse : Gay Talese, Thy Neighbor’s Wife (New York: Doubleday, 1980), p. 50.
188	phone call from the chancellery : Ibid., p. 72.
189	Playboy was the fastest growing magazine in America : Ibid., p. 73.
189	“develop a method for inhibition” : Gregory Pincus to Margaret Sanger, March 31, 1954, Gregory Pincus Papers, LOC.

CHAPTER TWENTY

190	shaken but not hurt : Katharine Dexter McCormick to Margaret Sanger, February 1, 1955, Margaret Sanger Papers, SSC.
190	hitched a ride to Boston : Ibid.
190	maid stood by to fetch drinks : Laura Pincus Bernard, interview conducted by the author, October 2011.
191	refused to supply the chemical : Margaret Sanger to Katharine Dexter McCormick, April 22, 1954, Margaret Sanger Papers, SSC.
191	did not yet understand how or why : Margaret Marsh and Wanda Ronner, The Fertility Doctor: John Rock and the Reproductive Revolution (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), p. 170.
191	“throws grave doubt” : Al Raymond to Gregory Pincus, January 3, 1955, Gregory Pincus Papers, LOC.
192	“will send it to you unlabeled” : Ibid.
192	“didn’t want to be bothered with menstruals” : Transcript of Anne Merrill interview conducted by Leon Speroff, May 2007.
193	participate as part of their studies : Katharine Dexter McCormick to Margaret Sanger, February 1, 1955, Margaret Sanger Papers, SSC.
194	Laura was startled and charmed : Laura Pincus Bernard, interview conducted by the author, October 2011; David Halberstam, The Fifties (New York: Villard Books, 1993), p. 604.
194	seeing patients and conducting experiments : Armond Fields, Katharine Dexter McCormick: Pioneer for Women’s Rights (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003), p. 268.
194	confident enough to send Pincus a check : Katharine Dexter McCormick to Bruce Crawford, January 5, 1955, Worcester Foundation Papers, UM.
194	in addition to the $20,000 : Katharine Dexter McCormick to Hudson Hoagland, August 13, 1954, Worcester Foundation Papers, UM.
195	“for lack of funds” : Katharine Dexter McCormick to Bruce Crawford, January 5, 1955, Worcester Foundation Papers, UM.
195	food supplies might falter : “60,000,000 Buyers to Enter Market,” New York Times , March 15, 1955.
196	“Babies, Babies, Babies—4,000,000 Problems” : “Washington: Babies, Babies, Babies—4,000,000 Problems,” New York Times , February 27, 1955.
197	“meeting the needs of the people” : “San Juan Talks Open on Birth Control Theme Held Key to Caribbean Problems,” New York Times , May 13, 1955.
198	“I wouldn’t have your job for anything” : “The Plight of the Young Mother,” Ladies’ Home Journal , February 1956, p. 107.
198	“if you call that a vacation” : Ibid.
199	“very quietly and privately” : “Scientists Near Goal in Finding Simple Birth Control Method,” Middleboro Daily News (Kentucky), July 14, 1955.
199	project-by-project basis : Ellen Chesler, Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), p. 437.
199	Conference of the International Planned Parenthood Federation : Ibid.
200	“I do wish the field tests” : Katharine Dexter McCormick to Margaret Sanger, February 1, 1955, Margaret Sanger Papers, SSC.

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